The West Wing

Luxury Listings NYC // Nov 12, 2014

With more than 150 home listings over the $10 million mark, real estate south of 30th Street is hotter than ever. And that means developers are looking to put up swanky new condos anywhere and everywhere?—Soho’s western frontier being no exception.

Once neglected, Hudson Square?—?a micro -neighborhood defined as starting at West Houston Street and going south to Canal Street, and from Sixth Avenue west to Greenwich Street?—?is set to see a wave of new condo development.

“Five years ago, we got our first pharmacy,” Ellen Baer, the president of Hudson Square BID, told the New York Post. “That was exciting.” But now both Related and Extell, two of the biggest developers in the city, are making major plays in Hudson Square, an area once known as the Printing District.

In June, Related broke ground on an 80/20 rental with 201 units at 261 Hudson Street. The 12-story, 168,000-square-foot project is scheduled to wrap up in 2016. And Extell has kicked off construction on a 116-unit, 22-story building at 70 Charlton Street, according to the Post. The development will include 91 market rate co-ops and another 25 affordable rentals.

And smaller condo projects are on their way, too. Coming soon is 15 Renwick, a 31-unit condo designed by ODA’s Eran Chen. The building is expected to open next year.

“The product is different fundamentally than anything on the market right now,” Shaun Osher, CEO of Core, who is marketing the building, told the Post. He added that for one thing, 15 Renwick’s units are smaller than most. Where developers “brought big units into the market because there were none?—?now everything is big units, and the market demands smaller units,” Osher said.

Prices at 15 Renwick reflect the smaller size: Two-bedroom units start at $2 million and rise to $10.5 million for a penthouse.

Meanwhile boutique hotels, like the 122-key Hotel Hugo and the 329-key Tommie, have helped transform the area around the Holland Tunnel into a luxury destination. And new slow-food restaurants like Dig Inn and Essen have added to the neighborhood’s attractions.

Developers in Hudson Square are cutting back on some of the amenities seen in neighborhoods like Tribeca and Greenwich Village to create better value, Bertrand Buchin, of Douglas Elliman, told the Post. This fall, Buchin is unveiling 286 Spring Street, a five-unit condo building where prices start in the low-$6 millions and are expected to rise to $11 million, according to the Post.

“At some point this area is going to have to take off,” Matthew Moinian, who developed Hotel Hugo in partnership with Fortuna Realty Group, added. —Christopher Cameron